The Guardian today reports on the possible end of the double album, as highlighted by Robert Smith's unwillingness to take a paycut to release a second disc along with this month's 4:13 Dream. The question that came to mind: Should anyone care?
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Jeff Beck, Chic, Wanda Jackson, Little Anthony and the Imperials, Metallica, Run-DMC, the Stooges, War, and Bobby Womack are this year's nominees for induction into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame; five of them will be inducted next April after balloting concludes in January. This year's list of nominees is almost more notable for who isn't on it than who is; the list of eligible artists who were snubbed by the dudes who want to codify their definition of "rock and roll" includes inarguably influential artists like Slayer, the Cure, and—once again—Rush. Click through for our list of the six highest-profile acts who didn't make the ballot, and vote for who you think was the most robbed. Once the votes are tallied, we can march on the Rolling Stone offices and plead for justice!
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You'd think Robert Smith would be in a pretty good mood this week, what with a new EP by the Cure, Hypnagogic States, being out and featuring remixes of the band's new songs by young turks like Patrick Stump and an unidentified member of 30 Seconds To Mars. But he's less than pleased—not because of the music, but because of the price point that was bestowed on his album by whoever placed it to the iTunes Store's shelves. Which is why he penned a blog post today that began "PLEASE DONT BUY HYPNAGOGIC STATES EP FROM ITUNES FOR £7.99." Smith's all-caps missive to the iTunes powers that be—which features, as he puts it, "colourful language"- after the jump.
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The one about the Hold Steady playing a couple of shows in Europe as a support act for Counting Crows, or the one about the new Cure single featuring remixes by 30 Seconds To Mars' Jared Leto, My Chemical Romance's Gerard Way, AFI's Jade E. Puget, and Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz and Patrick Stump? I think it's a toss-up, although I have heard that there are a lot of Counting Crows fans lurking in the shadows out there... [AHN / NME]
Many people find it hard to tell the great from the godawful when it comes to 21st-century mainstream rock. To help figure out which is which, here's "Corporate Rock Still Sells," where Al "GovernmentNames" Shipley examines what's good, bad, and ugly in the world of rock and roll. This time around, he takes a look at a couple of old reliables who have re-entered the rock charts.
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When I first heard that an artist named Charlotte Sometimes had a new single named "How I Could Just Kill A Man," I hoped for a song that sounded like Evanescence produced by DJ Muggs. Instead, the track is just some sub-Regina Spektor (if not sub-Sara Bareilles) ditty whose chorus simply happens to end with "you can't understand / how I could just kill a man." Judging from lyrics like "sleeping tires, I'm told they never drive" and "I'm choosing to leave with your heart on my sleeve," she really would have been better off covering the original.
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When Good Charlotte's Joel Madden and babymama Nicole Richie aren't going on double dates with Paris Hilton and brother Benj, he spends quality time with his infant daughter Harlow Winter, listening to The Head On The Door. "We've been on tour about a month now, I used to sing songs to [Harlow] every day. And there's a band she really likes, it's called The Cure. Big Cure fan. So I've learned all their songs and we'll sing one tonight. This is called 'Love Song.'" All their songs? Does Joel cry "waiting for the deathblow" over the crib at night? Have renditions of "Hot! Hot Hot!" accompanied bathtime?
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If you were hoping to hear the new Cure album sometime before spring 2008, you're S.O.L.: it's been delayed yet again. Fat Bob is still deciding on producers, format, and just about everything else from the sound of it. Maybe don't write so many songs next time, pal. [Reuters]
Robert Smith says the new album from The Cure will be an expanded affair, and it'll be available both as a label-approved single disc and as a double-album "for the fans." (One track is reported to be named "The Hungry Ghost." Please make your own joke and save me the trouble.) [gigwise.com]
Yes, yes, we get it: Robert Smith is an icon, a legend, an inspiration—and, it seems, a guy who has no qualms about taking a Stipe-like victory dance about his back catalog, despite the fact that his band's last start-to-finish listenable album was nearly fifteen years ago. But remember when the Cure were so good, even a B-side from 1985 sounded like amazing?
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